What was Einstein's miracle year?
In 1905, often called Albert Einstein's "miracle year," he published four groundbreaking papers, including special relativity and the idea behind E=mc².
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Genius facts and facts about geniuses, from the Random Facts shelf.
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What did Einstein win the Nobel Prize for?
Albert Einstein won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for explaining the photoelectric effect, not for his theory of relativity.
Was Einstein offered the presidency of Israel?
Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, but he turned it down.
What job did Einstein have when he developed relativity?
Albert Einstein was working as a patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland, when he developed his special theory of relativity.
Did Einstein fail math?
The story that Albert Einstein failed math is a myth. He excelled at math from a young age.
What letter did Einstein send to President Roosevelt?
In 1939, Albert Einstein signed a letter warning President Franklin Roosevelt that Germany might develop an atomic bomb.
What did Einstein do with his Nobel Prize money?
Albert Einstein gave his Nobel Prize money to his ex-wife, Mileva Marić, as part of their divorce settlement.
Did Einstein play an instrument?
Albert Einstein loved playing the violin.
What does E=mc² mean?
Albert Einstein's equation E=mc² shows that mass and energy are related.
Who was Time's Person of the Century?
Time magazine named Albert Einstein its Person of the Century in 1999.
What did Newton do during the plague?
While Cambridge University was closed during the plague in 1665 and 1666, Isaac Newton made major discoveries in calculus, optics, and gravity.
Did Newton work at the Royal Mint?
Isaac Newton served as Master of the Royal Mint and personally investigated counterfeiters.
Who invented calculus?
Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz both developed calculus independently, which led to a bitter dispute over who deserved credit.
Did Newton study alchemy?
Isaac Newton wrote more about alchemy and theology than about physics.
What strange experiment did Newton do on his own eye?
Isaac Newton once pushed a blunt needle behind his eyeball to study how pressure affected his vision.
Who paid to publish Newton's "Principia"?
Astronomer Edmond Halley paid to publish Isaac Newton's "Principia" in 1687.
Did Newton invent the cat flap?
The story that Isaac Newton invented the cat flap is likely a myth.
When was Isaac Newton born?
Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day in 1642, according to the calendar used in England at the time.
When was Isaac Newton knighted?
Isaac Newton was knighted in 1705.
Was there mercury in Newton's hair?
Tests of Isaac Newton's hair found high levels of mercury, probably from his alchemy experiments.
What was the War of the Currents?
Nikola Tesla's alternating current (AC) system competed with Edison's direct current in the "War of the Currents," and AC won.
How was Tesla involved with Niagara Falls?
Nikola Tesla's AC technology was used at the Niagara Falls hydroelectric plant in the 1890s.
What unit is named after Tesla?
The tesla, a unit used to measure magnetic fields, is named after Nikola Tesla.
Did Tesla love pigeons?
Nikola Tesla was devoted to pigeons and fed them in New York City.
How did Tesla die?
Nikola Tesla died nearly broke in a New York hotel room in 1943.
Was Tesla born during a lightning storm?
A popular legend says Nikola Tesla was born during a lightning storm.
Did Tesla build a remote-controlled boat?
Nikola Tesla demonstrated a remote-controlled boat at Madison Square Garden in 1898.
What was Wardenclyffe Tower?
Nikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower was meant to send wireless power and messages.
How many patents did Tesla have?
Nikola Tesla held about 300 patents worldwide.
Is Tesla the car company named after Nikola Tesla?
Tesla, the electric car company, is named after Nikola Tesla.
Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?
Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and she's the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences, physics and chemistry.
What elements did Marie Curie discover?
Marie Curie discovered polonium, named after her home country of Poland, and radium.
Are Marie Curie's notebooks still radioactive?
Marie Curie's notebooks are still radioactive and are kept in lead-lined boxes.
What were the "little Curies"?
During World War I, Marie Curie created mobile X-ray units, nicknamed "little Curies," to help treat wounded soldiers.
Did Marie Curie's daughter win a Nobel Prize?
Marie Curie's daughter Irène Joliot-Curie won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935.
Who was the first female professor at the Sorbonne?
Marie Curie was the first female professor at the Sorbonne in Paris.
Is Marie Curie buried in the Panthéon?
In 1995, Marie Curie became the first woman buried in the Panthéon in Paris for her own achievements.
Is there an element named after Curie?
The element curium is named after Marie and Pierre Curie.
What was the Flying University?
Marie Curie studied at the "Flying University," a secret school in Warsaw.
Did Marie Curie patent radium?
Marie Curie refused to patent her method for isolating radium.
Who tutored Alexander the Great?
Aristotle was the tutor of the young Alexander the Great.
How long did Aristotle study with Plato?
Aristotle studied at Plato's Academy in Athens for about 20 years.
What does "peripatetic" mean?
Aristotle's school, the Lyceum, gave us the word "peripatetic" because he reportedly taught while walking around.
Is Aristotle the father of biology?
Aristotle described and classified hundreds of animal species and is often called the father of biology.
Did Aristotle know the Earth was round?
Aristotle argued that Earth is round, pointing to its curved shadow on the Moon during lunar eclipses.
What did Aristotle get wrong about falling objects?
Aristotle wrongly believed that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones.
How many of Aristotle's works survive?
Most of Aristotle's writings are lost, and many of the surviving works are believed to be his lecture notes.
What is a syllogism?
Aristotle developed the syllogism, a basic form of logical reasoning.
Who called humans "political animals"?
Aristotle described humans as political animals.
Who was "The Philosopher"?
Medieval scholars called Aristotle simply "The Philosopher."
What did Galileo notice about pendulums?
As a young man, Galileo noticed that a swinging chandelier in Pisa Cathedral took the same amount of time for each swing, which led to his study of pendulums.
Did Galileo drop balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa?
The famous story of Galileo dropping balls from the Leaning Tower of Pisa probably never happened.
Why was Galileo put on trial?
In 1633, Galileo was put on trial by the Catholic Church for supporting the idea that Earth orbits the Sun, and he spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
When did the Catholic Church admit it was wrong about Galileo?
In 1992, Pope John Paul II formally acknowledged that the Church had been wrong in its treatment of Galileo.
Where is Galileo's finger?
Galileo's middle finger is displayed in a museum in Florence.
What did Galileo observe about Venus?
Galileo observed that Venus has phases like the Moon, evidence that it orbits the Sun.
What was the Galileo spacecraft?
NASA's Galileo spacecraft studied Jupiter from 1995 to 2003.
Did Galileo go blind?
Galileo went blind late in life.
Who was Maria Celeste?
Galileo's daughter Maria Celeste was a nun who exchanged letters with him.
Was Galileo born the same year as Shakespeare?
Galileo was born in 1564, the same year as William Shakespeare.
How long was Stephen Hawking expected to live after his diagnosis?
Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with ALS at 21 and given about two years to live, but he lived to 76.
What is Hawking radiation?
Stephen Hawking predicted that black holes slowly give off energy, now called Hawking radiation.
How popular was "A Brief History of Time"?
Stephen Hawking's 1988 book "A Brief History of Time" sold millions of copies.
What famous professorship did Stephen Hawking hold?
Stephen Hawking held the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics at Cambridge, the same position Isaac Newton once held.
Did Stephen Hawking experience zero gravity?
Stephen Hawking experienced weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight in 2007.
Did Stephen Hawking throw a party for time travelers?
In 2009, Stephen Hawking held a party for time travelers and only sent out the invitations after it was over.
How are Stephen Hawking's birth and death connected to other scientists?
Stephen Hawking was born on the anniversary of Galileo's death and died on Albert Einstein's birthday.
Where are Stephen Hawking's ashes?
Stephen Hawking's ashes are buried in Westminster Abbey near Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
Did Stephen Hawking appear on TV shows?
Stephen Hawking appeared on "The Simpsons" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
How did Stephen Hawking speak?
Stephen Hawking communicated using a computer he controlled with a sensor that detected movement in his cheek.
What did Alan Turing do during WWII?
During WWII, Alan Turing helped break Germany's Enigma code at Bletchley Park.
What is the Turing test?
Alan Turing proposed the Turing test in 1950 to judge whether a machine can think.
Was Alan Turing a fast runner?
Alan Turing was an excellent long-distance runner, and his best marathon time was close to Olympic level.
Was Alan Turing pardoned?
Alan Turing was convicted in 1952 for homosexual acts and received a royal pardon in 2013.
Is Alan Turing on British money?
Alan Turing appears on the Bank of England's £50 note, issued in 2021.
What is the Turing Award?
The Turing Award is often called the "Nobel Prize of computing."
Did Alan Turing write a chess program?
Alan Turing wrote one of the first chess programs, which he had to run by hand.
Did Turing study animal patterns?
Alan Turing wrote a paper explaining how patterns like stripes and spots form in nature.
What movie is about Alan Turing?
The 2014 movie "The Imitation Game" is about Alan Turing.
Why did Alan Turing chain his mug to a radiator?
Alan Turing reportedly chained his mug to a radiator so no one would take it.
How did Ramanujan get noticed?
Self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan sent a letter full of formulas to Cambridge mathematician G.H. Hardy in 1913, and Hardy brought him to England.
What is the taxicab number?
1729 is called the "taxicab number" because Ramanujan noted it's the smallest number that can be written as the sum of two cubes in two different ways.
Was Ramanujan a member of the Royal Society?
Ramanujan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1918.
How many results did Ramanujan discover?
Srinivasa Ramanujan produced nearly 4,000 mathematical results.
What is Ramanujan's "lost notebook"?
Ramanujan's "lost notebook" was rediscovered at Trinity College in 1976.
How old was Ramanujan when he died?
Srinivasa Ramanujan died in 1920 at age 32.
What is India's National Mathematics Day?
India celebrates National Mathematics Day on December 22, Ramanujan's birthday.
What movie is about Ramanujan?
The 2015 movie "The Man Who Knew Infinity" is about Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Where did Ramanujan say his formulas came from?
Srinivasa Ramanujan said a Hindu goddess revealed formulas to him in dreams.
Are Ramanujan's formulas used today?
Ramanujan's formulas for pi are used in computer algorithms.
What is the Eureka story?
According to legend, Archimedes shouted "Eureka!" when he realized in the bathtub how to test whether a king's crown was pure gold.
How close did Archimedes get to calculating pi?
Archimedes calculated that pi is between 3 10/71 and 3 1/7.
Is the Archimedes screw still used?
The Archimedes screw, a device for lifting water, is still used today.
What did Archimedes say about levers?
Archimedes is said to have claimed that with a long enough lever and a place to stand, he could move the Earth.
What is the Archimedes Palimpsest?
The Archimedes Palimpsest is a medieval prayer book written over lost works by Archimedes, and it sold for $2 million in 1998.
What was "The Sand Reckoner"?
In "The Sand Reckoner," Archimedes estimated how many grains of sand would fill the universe.
What was on Archimedes' tomb?
Archimedes' tomb was marked with a sphere inside a cylinder.
Is Archimedes on the Fields Medal?
The Fields Medal, a top prize in mathematics, features a portrait of Archimedes.
Where did Archimedes live?
Archimedes lived in Syracuse, on the island of Sicily.
What is Archimedes' principle?
Archimedes' principle explains buoyancy.
How long was Darwin's voyage on the Beagle?
Charles Darwin's voyage on HMS Beagle lasted about five years, from 1831 to 1836.
Why did Darwin wait to publish his theory?
Charles Darwin waited about 20 years to publish his theory of evolution and only rushed it out after Alfred Russel Wallace sent him similar ideas in 1858.
How quickly did "On the Origin of Species" sell out?
The first printing of "On the Origin of Species" sold out on its first day in 1859.
Did Darwin make a list about getting married?
Charles Darwin made a list of pros and cons before deciding to get married.
What was the Glutton Club?
At Cambridge, Charles Darwin belonged to the Glutton Club, which ate unusual animals.
What was Darwin's last book about?
Charles Darwin's last book, published in 1881, was about earthworms.
Were Darwin and Lincoln born on the same day?
Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born on the same day, February 12, 1809.
What are Darwin's finches?
Darwin's finches from the Galápagos Islands became famous examples of evolution.
Was Darwin on British money?
Charles Darwin appeared on the Bank of England's £10 note from 2000 to 2018.
Did Darwin finish medical school?
Charles Darwin dropped out of medical school.
Who was Ada Lovelace's father?
Ada Lovelace's father was the poet Lord Byron.
What was Ada Lovelace's Note G?
In her famous "Note G," Ada Lovelace wrote a step-by-step method for calculating Bernoulli numbers on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine.
Did Ada Lovelace imagine computers making music?
Ada Lovelace predicted that computers could one day compose music.
What is Ada Lovelace Day?
Ada Lovelace Day celebrates women in science and technology.
What is the Ada programming language?
The US Department of Defense named its Ada programming language after Ada Lovelace.
Why did Ada Lovelace study math?
Ada Lovelace's mother had her study math to keep her away from her father's poetic temperament.
What was "poetical science"?
Ada Lovelace described her approach as "poetical science."
Did Ada Lovelace design a flying machine?
At age 12, Ada Lovelace designed plans for a flying machine.
Where is Ada Lovelace buried?
Ada Lovelace died at 36 and was buried next to her father.
What did Charles Babbage call Ada Lovelace?
Charles Babbage called Ada Lovelace "the Enchantress of Number."